Back on 24 December, Julie (22) and Laetitia (26) already knew. Toulouse were going to play another Top 14 final. So when the younger of the two stumbled by chance on two seats next to each other on the LNR website, there was nothing to think about. “They cost a hundred euros each“, says her older sister.

A lovely early Christmas present. And above all a wish granted, since the Red and Blacks did indeed make it to the French championship final.

The two sisters play rugby for RCSL, the Rassemblement Côte Sud Landes, with whom they have just won a title of their own. But it is Toulouse who soundtracked their childhood, and they would not have missed the chance for anything in the world to see Dupont’s crew lift a fourth consecutive Brennus, on Saturday evening at the Stade de France. For the occasion, they each got their shirt out. Black for Laetitia, red for Julie.

The journey started in Biarritz, by plane, early in the morning, for two who are more used to nights out. But the excitement built as the finale approached. In the stands there were moments of tension, and of disappointment too, with beer not allowed to be sold because of the heatwave crushing the capital. No rue Princesse either, even if the temptation was there… To make up for it, pints of alcohol-free beer. Better than nothing.

But above all joy, and a lost voice for Julie. “She’s a Mauvaka fan, he’s a monster!”, smiles Laetitia. It has to be said that the international hooker delivered a top-drawer performance, with two tries in the first half.

What the two women from the Landes had not really planned for was the weekend’s other gift. “We’d never done a sisters’ weekend before, it’s the first time“, Laetitia confides. Now it is done. Before heading back to the Landes on Monday, the two rugby players will see Paris, a city they do not really know. But one which, over the years, has become Stade Toulousain’s main residence.